Vanuatu

Vanuatu preserves a dense web of customary knowledge, sand drawing and ritual practices across more than eighty islands.

Crafts Games & sport Spirituality & rites Language & oral

Knowledge in this place

Vanuatu sand drawing

Vanuatu sand drawing

Continuous-line designs traced in sand that carry stories, knowledge and messages, inscribed by UNESCO.

Naghol land diving

Naghol land diving

A ritual on Pentecost Island where men leap from tall wooden towers with vines tied to their ankles to bless the yam harvest.

Tusker pig ceremonial wealth

Tusker pig ceremonial wealth

Curved boar tusks raised over years that mark rank and are exchanged in grade-taking ceremonies.

Spirituality & rites

Bislama

An English-based creole that unites speakers of the country's many indigenous languages.

Language & oral